Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many women have had their eggs (oocytes) frozen in each year between 2014 and 2019.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of patients storing their own eggs in each year from 2014 to 2019.
Year of treatment | Number of patients |
2014 | 611 |
2015 | 906 |
2016 | 1,064 |
2017 | 1,209 |
2018 | 1,595 |
2019 | 1,937 |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
Note:
The data is as shown on the HFEA’s register database on 21 October 2022. This is a live database so these figures reflect the data on this day are likely to change over time. Data shown includes patients storing their eggs for future use.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what provisions they have in place to ensure that children who were conceived following in vitro fertilisation, following oocyte freezing, receive medical follow up.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has no statutory role in the medical follow up for children conceived through in vitro fertilisation, including instances where thawed eggs are used in treatment. The HFEA’s expert Scientific and Clinical Advances Advisory Committee monitors new studies relating to assisted reproductive technologies, including any impact on children born from treatments. This can lead the HFEA to recommend new information for patients regarding the risks of any treatment.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, between 2014 and 2019, how many women receiving frozen or thawed eggs (oocytes) subsequently had a live birth at term; and of this number, how many foetal or neonatal abnormalities were reported.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of live births and congenital abnormalities from treatments using patients thawed eggs from 2014 to 2019.
Live births at term | 205 |
Congenital abnormalities | 7 |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, between 2014 and 2019, how many women undergoing a uterine transfer of one or more embryo(s) produced by fertilising a thawed egg had a positive pregnancy test; and how many pregnancies resulted in a spontaneous abortion (1) before 12 weeks of gestation, and (2) after 12 weeks of gestation.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. However, the following table shows the number of pregnancies and miscarriages from treatments using patients own thawed eggs from 2014 to 2019.
Pregnancies | 286 |
Miscarriages | 47 |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government, of the human eggs (oocytes) harvested between 2014 and 2019, how many of the fertilised eggs produced viable embryos suitable for uterine transfer; and how many embryos were transferred to the uterus for the purpose of producing a baby.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The following table shows the number of embryos created and transferred from patients’ own thawed eggs from 2014 to 2019.
Embryos created | 7,257 |
Embryos transferred | 1,685 |
Source: The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)
Notes:
1. Due to the way data is stored, the HFEA has advised that it cannot easily link egg storage cycles with a high degree of accuracy. Data is therefore provided as total embryos created or transferred within the required period, rather than a subset of eggs stored.
2. The data is as shown on the HFEA’s register database on 20 October 2022. This is a live database so these figures reflect the data on this day and are likely to change over time. Data shown includes only treatments using patients own thawed eggs.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many human eggs (oocytes) were harvested and frozen by vitrification between 2014 and 2019 for social purposes such as the preservation of a woman’s fertility; of this number, how many of these eggs (1) were thawed in order to undertake clinical in vitro fertilisation, (2) did not thaw satisfactorily, and (3) underwent attempts at fertilisation with or without ICSI.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
This information is not held in the format requested. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it does not hold information on the method of freezing or the reasons the eggs were frozen during this period. While the HFEA collects data on egg storage, data on the method of freezing, the reasons the eggs were frozen or whether eggs did not thaw satisfactorily is not held.
The following table shows the number of eggs collected for patients’ own use in egg storage from 2014 to 2019.
Eggs stored | 75,956 |
Eggs thawed | 13,340 |
Eggs fertilised | 11,481 |
Source: The HFEA
Notes:
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many UK clinics are licensed to undertake human oocyte freezing for clinical purposes.
Answered by Lord Markham - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that there were 111 United Kingdom clinics licensed to undertake egg storage for clinical use in 2021/2022.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many misdiagnoses have been recorded by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority following IVF with preimplantation diagnosis for a specific pathological mutation (1) at the preimplantation stage, and (2) following blastocyst biopsy.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority does not collect this information.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what clinical, or other follow up, is being undertaken by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority of children born after (1) embryo biopsy and preimplantation genetic diagnosis of nuclear DNA, (2) chromosome analysis following preimplantation genetic screening, (3) egg and/or embryo cryopreservation, and (4) invitro culture and transfer of embryos at the blastocyst stage of development.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has not undertaken any clinical or other follow up in relation to the cohorts identified.
Asked by: Lord Winston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many UK clinics have been granted a licence by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to undertake screening and treatment for mitochondrial disorders; how many patients at risk of producing a child with mitochondrial pathologies have undergone treatment using IVF and nuclear or spindle transfer; and how many births have been achieved following those treatments.
Answered by Baroness Blackwood of North Oxford
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has granted a licence to one clinic, Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life, to undertake screening and treatment for mitochondrial disorders.
Five patients at risk of producing a child with mitochondrial pathologies have undergone treatment using in vitro fertilisation and nuclear or spindle transfer.
No births have been achieved following those treatments to date.